5 Cloud Gaming Services that you can Start for Free

Cloud Gaming is a new and exciting way to enjoy Video Games. It often can be more affordable than building your own Gaming PC. With that said, sometimes it’s nice to get your feet wet for free. Maybe your budget is tight, or maybe you just aren’t sure about the whole Cloud Gaming thing yet. We’ve got you covered! The following services will let you get started without spending a penny up front!

So before we dive into the list, let me explain what we mean by free. These are all ultimately paid services. When you choose to game in the Cloud, you are essentially renting access to a super computer from another company. It costs them money to operate this service for you. There aren’t any Cloud Gaming companies that offer their product completely for free (at least not at the time of this writing). However, many of them make it very easy to get started.

The following services either offer you a free trial, or they don’t bill you until later. In either case, you don’t have to pay money up front to start gaming. They all do require a credit card during the sign-up process. They hold on to this information so that they can bill you for your usage later, or setup a Gaming Subscription. If you select a service that offers a free trial, you have to cancel the trial before it expires in order to prevent future billing. So with that said, let’s talk about 5 Cloud Gaming Services that you can start for free!

Snoost offers one of the best deals in Cloud Gaming. You can get an unlimited 3 day trial of their product. You can play as much as you want for 3 days without being billed at all! If you decide to keep them, their subscription is also pretty awesome. For $9.99 per month, you get unlimited hours of Cloud Gaming on their most powerful servers. Sound too good to be true? Try them for yourselves (there’s no risk).

Note: As of this writing, Snoost is offline for furtherdevelopment. They plan to launch their beta productin the near future. You can sign up on their websiteto be notified when they are available again.

Simplay is an up-and-coming Cloud Gaming Service that is available in Europe. They offer unlimited hours of Cloud Gaming for $19.99 per month. Simplay allows you to enjoy a 1 day trial of their service to decide if it’s worth your investment. They are one of only two companies on this list that offer unlimited hours of Gaming as part of their subscription. Although they are currently limited to Europe, they have plans to expand to other regions in the future.

GeForce Now is one of the bigger names in Cloud Gaming. They are powered by Nvidia’s extensive Grid technology and they offer a large library of titles for you to play. GeForce Now is currently in closed beta. You have to be invited in order to play. With that said, if you do receive an invitation, they don’t charge anything for their service (at least during the beta). Nvidia hasn’t officially announced their pricing or trial options for after the beta. Their service is very high-end and they offer a great gaming experience. If you’re not already a part of their beta, you can sign up for it on their website.

Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Service isn’t exclusively a gaming service. However, it will handle Cloud Gaming without any issues (check out our guide to learn how to set it up). One nice thing about Azure is that it’s available in many regions of the world. It’s one of the only Cloud Services that is available in Asia and India. They don’t technically offer a trial, but they do bill later for any services that you use. So you are welcome to setup your server and game as much as you want without having to pay up front. Just be aware that an invoice is coming later that will need to be addressed.

Paperspace is a very popular destination for Cloud Gamers. They offer powerful hardware at an affordable hourly rate (starting at 0.40 cents per hour). They don’t officially offer a trial, but you can get $10 of free credit to use on Paperspace through our Affiliate Link. This is enough to setup your server and enjoy a few hours of gaming for free. Paperspace is very streamlined and is one of the smoothest Cloud Gaming experiences available.

So what do you think? Have you tried any of these services? What was your experience? Let us know in the comments!